The First Spartans
by Fang foxblood
Summary: 1/3, Two years before the spartan-II program started, 10 children were taken from their homes and given augmentations, to perfect the final spartan-II program. these Spartans are known as the first Spartans. this small squad of Spartans, are constantly sent on suicide missions Against Innies, only to return unharmed. But their lives will change in 2525, when the covenant arises.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, this is my first attempt at a halo book so I hope you all like it, if you read my other series at , then that's probably why you're here. Just so you know, I have a plan to make a trilogy of books revolving around the first Spartans and their missions but for now, this is just the beginning. Let me get this straight, most of the facts I get here are from halo nation, my trusted source for halo information (Save the plot of this story) if you have any questions you can turn to halo nation or me to answer them. I hope you like this because I will be posting a new chapter every week or two. Enjoy!

Chapter 1:

"But are you sure we have to do this?" asked a man in his mid-forties, a UNSC scientist to a gunnery sergeant.

"Doctor Halsey ordered us to do it, so we have to." replied the die-hard sergeant, who had served in many battles and lost many men.

"But taking children," said the scientist in a hushed voice so no one in the ONI building would hear him. "That just seems wrong. What did they ever do to us?"

"I understand that, but I don't care, these children will become soldiers, assuming they survive."

"You actually believe that? These are test subjects, we have to take them and give them augmentations, which could possibly kill them, no one, not even doctor Halsey believes they will survive."

"Does it matter? They will be the absolute best soldiers that we could ever hope to create."

"Not these, they are just lab rats, expendables."

"We are all expendables at one point in time." said Dr. Halsey who walked into the room. "I do not like the idea of taking children from their homes and turning them into lab rats, but it is necessary. Insurgents are getting smarter, and we cannot keep up with them, we need a steady defense to hold them down, and defend Earth's colonies from anything that may threaten them."

"I understand, but after project Orion failed, how could you know these will be different?" asked the scientist.

"Because I am running the project, that's how." replied Dr. Halsey as she walked away.

IIII

Somewhere deep in an ONI facility on the planet reach, a secret program was being constructed to battle the Insurgents, which ONI declared a threat to the outer colonies. A similar program was constructed before called Project ORION (Later known as the SPARTAN-I program) which featured various soldiers from the UNSC army (One of these soldier being Sergeant Avery Johnson) but the project was later shut down due to the mental instability of the soldiers due to the effects of the implants they received. But famous scientist doctor Catharine Halsey had a different idea. She planned on making a new type of soldier similar to the SPARTAN-I, she called it the SPARTAN-II program (officially known as Project ORION Class 2) but she needed something, that something was test subjects, and a different variety of them so that she could test different implants on different forms of DNA, she had requested that her trusted scientist Professor Mike, gather a variety subjects with different varieties of DNA. These were unofficially known as the first Spartans, but they were never expected to make it past the augmentations. Dr. Halsey was going for ten children to use as her test subjects, each with different stats like; hair color, heredity, measurements of strength and courage, and each from a different planet.

But Professor Mike was not approving of this. Of course, he knew that the insurrectionists had to be dealt with, but his idea of defeating them was not along the lines of taking children at the ages of 6 and 7, and giving those children augmentations that could potentially kill them. He especially did not approve of these specific children be expendable lab rats for the true SPARTAN II program. But of course, as much as he tried to object, he just couldn't over rule Dr. Halsey's decision. Besides, even he knew that taking a few children from different planets and changing their lives would not be as great a threat compared to the insurrectionists taking over more planets and starting a civil war amongst them. No, they had to be stopped, no matter the cost.

Professor Mike sat at his desk searching though physical examinations and mental examinations of different children on a number of planets. If he wanted to find only ten children, they had to be the best. Mike didn't want lab rats, he wanted Spartans, he wanted them to survive so that he wouldn't have the guilt of killing innocent children, and he wanted these children to make a difference.

He had already selected nine children from Earth, Mars, Harvest, Sigma Octanus IV, and Reach. But he was having a hard time selecting the tenth one. At least, he was until he looked through a profile on reach, a girl, at the age of six. Her name was Lauren, and she was turning six tomorrow. Her physical examination showed her to be exceptionally strong, and her mental examinations showed her to be courageous and smart. She would make a great addition to the Spartans.

Now that the children had been selected, Mike needed Sergeant Joseph, the die-hard sergeant, to retrieve them, when no one was looking. Later in the Actual SPARTAN-II program, Dr. Halsey would use flash clones to replace the children and reduce suspicion.

In truth, Joseph didn't like taking children anymore then Mike did, but he knew that war would be costly. He had lost his wife to an insurrectionist strike force that attacked the space station near Pluto. Joseph never got to avenge his wife, and he was hoping that these children could do it for him.

He would go around in the designated area where the children were, dressed up in black, and abduct the children by knocking them out with drugs. They would then take them to base, and have the children put into stasis with a stasis shot until they were ready. But Sergeant Joseph hadn't finished yet. He still needed to collect one last child, the one named Lauren.

IIII

Alec was a boy at the age of 7 years. He had short tan hair, bright blue eyes, and a radiant aura that would make one fell calm in and intense situation, even though he was just a boy. He lived in a small town on Reach with his father, mother, and childhood friend Lauren who was 6. Alec had it pretty good in life. He had free reign over anything in the vicinity of the town. Reach wasn't a bad place, or even a dangerous place, which is why his father let him go almost anywhere near their town with Lauren. Being his childhood friend, Alec had a strong urge to defend Lauren from anything, weather that being something they got in trouble for, or if someone was threatening Lauren, Alec would always defend her. Alec was strong for his age. He was honest, and humble. He was probably the best child a parent could ask for.

He awoke one day on a Saturday morning, the day that changed everything. He yawned and then he stretched, and looked outside his window from his bed.

_Saturday, good, no school today._ He thought to himself as he jumped out of bed and changed into some clothes. He then ran downstairs and ate a quick breakfast.

"You seem excited, is today the day?" asked Alec's father who was sitting at the chair in the living room reading the paper.

"Yeah, it's Lauren's birthday today, and I have been saving up for a present for her that I know she'll really like." replied Alec.

It indeed was Lauren's birthday, For her birthday, Alec wanted to save up for a bouquet of her favorite flowers, Tiger Lilies, which weren't easy to find on reach, and was why they were so expensive. Alec thought Lauren deserved something nice for her birthday. In fact, he had bought the Tiger lilies a few days ago and was keeping them alive in a vase of water. Alec took the flowers from the vase.

"I'm going over to Lauren's now alright?" asked Alec.

"Go on ahead." said his mother.

"Have fun." said his mother.

"I will." Alec replied as he ran out the door.

The first thing that Alec did was go to Lauren's house. He knocked on her house door and her parents answers.

"Hello," Alec said politely. "Is Lauren home?"

"Oh, you just missed her," said her mother. "She was headed off to the grain fields to wait for you."

"Oh, thank you." said Alec.

The Grain field was self-explanatory to its name. There was a farmer who owned a field of grain, with a tree upon a hill top in the middle of it. That was usually where Alec and Lauren stayed until the sun set.

It took Alec about ten minutes to get to the tree in the middle of the grain field. But for some reason, Lauren wasn't there yet. At first, Alec thought she was surprising him by hiding in the field, but then he started to hear something off in the distance. It sounded like struggling. Alec started toward the noise to see what was happening, and to his horror, he saw Lauren being attacked by a man dressed in black, who looked like a secret agent. Alec dropped the flowers in his hand and he charged at the man.

"Hey, let her go!" Alec yelled pounding at the man trying to free his childhood friend.

"What? Get off me you runt." grunted the man as he kicked Alec in the stomach.

Alec tried running again, but met the same punishment with a foot in the stomach. He bent over, clutching his stomach in pain. He then noticed a rock a few feet away from him. Alec picked it up and ran at the man again, this time, smashing the rock into the man's head, and making him fall over in pain. Alec then proceeded to comforting Lauren, who was nearly in shock from almost being kidnapped by that man in black.

"Lauren, what happened? Do you know that guy?" asked Alec.

"N-no, he just walked up o-out of the blue and attacked me." Lauren replied shaking.

"That's not good," Noted Alec as he tried to help up Lauren. "Look, we need to get to our parents. We can't have that man come after us ok?"

Lauren would have answered but she only pointed at the man in black looking angrily at Alec and her.

IIII

Joseph was mad. He was assigned to the most dangerous of missions against Innies (or insurrectionists) that have been noted, and made war changing tactics that no one had ever seen. But never, at any point in his life, had Joseph's head been smashed against a rock, by a _child_. If it weren't for his strength of self-control, Joseph would have pulled out his pistol and shot both of those kids dead and walked away. But Joseph had a mission, and he was going to follow it.

Joseph held the area of his head that was smashed by the rock, and grinned angrily at the kids.

"You kids are finished resisting Me." he said as he removed a cloth with a type of liquid that could knock one out exceptionally fast. Most people would refer to the effects as being "Drugged".

He came behind Alec, and put the cloth to his nose and mouth, and the effect was almost instantaneous. He then walked up to Lauren and knocked her out as well. But now, Joseph had a problem on his hands. He was only assigned to abduct the girl, but now he had this boy as a witness. He couldn't kill him despite his hatred for him, due to the suspicion that would rise. So Joseph had to drag both kids to his Warthog, and put them in the back, and he drove away.

Off in the distance, a pile of tiger lilies lay on the ground of the Grain field.


	2. Training

Chapter 2: Training

"You brought back two?! You were only supposed to bring back one!" yelled Mike who was obviously angry at the sergeant.

"The boy saw me and tried to save the girl I figured you would be angry if I shot him so I brought him back here."

"You would have shot him?! This is becoming too much, I am done with this. You can tell Dr. Halsey 'I resign'"

"You could always tell me yourself." said Halsey from behind Mike.

"Listen, I have told you many times before that the insurrectionists are a severe threat. If they are left alone, they will send humanity into a civil war, and that's why we're here. We need to stop them ourselves. This is out of the UNSC's hands. ONI is taking directive against a serious threat. What we do here could affect humanity as we know it. These children, as much as I hate to say, are only a small price to pay to keep peace."

"Not these children, these are just leading up to the ones in the 'official' SPARTAN II program. These are test subjects, lab rats, expendables, certain failures!"

"Not if you can help it." said Halsey.

"What?" the scientist asked.

"If you don't want them to be certain failures, then make them the best of the best. Do everything you can to make sure that they survive if that is what you want to do ever so badly. This is what I want; I want you, Mike, to steadily give the children the augmentations over a period of two years, and I want you, sergeant, to give them the basics of war and survival. Get rid of all luxuries of family and friends. Train them to be soldiers. If they are good enough to handle themselves one on one in two years, then they will proceed."

"What if they're not?"

"Then you already know what happens."

III

Alec woke up, at the same time as many other kids, in a military bunk bed. He was confused, he was drowsy, and he hurt all over. Almost immediately he wanted to know where Lauren was. He and the other kids got off the bunk beds and walked around awkwardly in the room.

"Lauren, Lauren?" Alec kept calling out to his childhood friend.

"Alec, are you there?" Alec heard Lauren reply in the crowd of kids.

"Yeah, where are you?" Alec asked as he tried to bust through the crowd. The other kids were talking to themselves, becoming confused and scared of their surroundings. The talking got louder and people kept moving around, making it harder for Alec to find his friend. It was a cluster of movement and talking until a loud, "Welcome everyone." rang out throughout the room. Everyone stopped talking and looked to find the source of the noise that had interrupted them. A woman was standing at the door with a fake smile on her face. Behind her, a man in UNSC combat armor stood looking upon the children with hateful eyes.

Most of the children began to fear these two new figures right away, even though Dr. Halsey still had her false smile on her face.

"Welcome to camp, you have been selected to participate in a program called the SPARTAN II program. You will all stay here and train to be the best you can be."

"The best of what we can be?" asked a kid who had medium length black hair, his name was Dante and he seem to be a popular kid of the group.

"Why, soldiers, of course. You will participate in war games, and be taught in the art of war, you will become super soldiers. You will become Spartans."

A small frail boy name Kane slowly raised his hand.

"Uhh… when do we get to go home?" asked Kane.

"This is your home now. You will be staying here for two years, and you will be tested each month. If you pass each test after two years, then you will move on to becoming soldiers."

A couple of men in a lab coats with syringes entered the room and gave the children each one. Alec and the other kids tried to evade the syringes, but in vain.

"Ouch," complained a kid with darkened skin named Antony. "What was that for?"

"That was just an anti-bacterial shot, so you don't get sick while you're here." Halsey lied.

What that shot really was, was the first part of the augmentations. That particular shot was supposed to enhance their learning abilities.

"I hope you are all ready, because we have are going to start your first lesson right now. Now please follow the sergeant to the next room." said Halsey leading the kids to their first lesson.

IIII

The first part of the SPARTAN II training program, was to eliminate all memories and luxuries of parents and family, and replace that with combat and warfare. The very first thing that the sergeant did to help acquire this was to read to the kids, tactics from "The art of war" and show them simulations of where the tactics are used. The next part, which would begin a week later, was to teach them sparring and give them another shot to enhance their strength slightly. Then, after a few weeks of sparring training, they would begin obstacle courses, and then so on and so forth. But right now, we will be focusing on the sparring.

IIIII

"The first thing you need to know, when you are in pitched combat with the enemy, is to never show fear, and to never show mercy. Now I need to know, which one of you kids thinks they can stand a chance against me?"

No one raised their hand. They were five, but they weren't stupid, they knew they couldn't beat him.

"Ah hah, smart kids I see. You never, on any circumstance, attack an enemy tat overpowers you immensely. Doing so is like signing your death sentence with your own pen. Instead of fighting people that overpower you, you must first fight someone that you are able to handle. That's why you will fight one another in sparring matches."

All of the kids looked at each other. They only knew the basics of sparring and now they were supposed to fight themselves.

"Now I'm going to partner you up, I want you to try to incapacitate the person you are partnered up with."

Alec was partnered up with Dante. They looked at each other before they introduced themselves.

"Hey, I'm Dante."

"Alec."

"Ready?" said the sergeant.

"Hope you aren't scared to fight me." Dante said confidently.

Alec only smirked.

"Set?"

"As long as you aren't scared to get knocked out by me." Alec replied.

"You are so on." said Dante.

"Go!" yelled the sergeant, as the kids charged at each other.


	3. Routine Change

Chapter 3: Routine Change.

To a Spartan in training, their routine was pretty simple. First they were shouted awake by the sergeant and his megaphone at about 4 A.M. Then they were sent around an indoor track for seven laps to get them moving. After that they would be sent to the mess hall for a nutritious breakfast. Then they were sent to the training room to spar the entire day. At the end of the day they would all have a sparing contest to see who would get the most food for dinner. The top three Spartans that won, gained the most food they picked for themselves, the Spartans that came in the fourth, fifth, and sixth. Got a good sum of food, but not as much, and they weren't able to pick what they wanted, and then the next five got only enough food to hold them over until breakfast. The scientists thought that this method would work because in order to get the most food, the kids had to fight to their hardest. It usually did. Every other day they alternated from sparring, to learning battle tactics, and watching war documents about WWII and the Vietnam War. Focusing on the third week of being taken into training, at about 8 P.M, the kids were about to begin the sparring tournament of the night.

"Alright ladies listen up," said the sergeant. "The rules are simple, you will be put in a bracket of one versus one, save the first round, and the winner moves onto the next bracket, the loser stays in the loser bracket to fight the losers."

Alec, Dante, and Lauren had a plan, they would all try to get within the first three, if they had to fight each other, then they would go down in orderly sequence, therefore all three of them getting the most dinner. They had all developed a bond between themselves and they promised to do whatever it took to make sure they all got the most dinner. The only problem was that since they had 11 kids, the first bracket always had a three way fight. Alec was among the three in the very first round that fought. They all stood in a boxed in arena while the rest of the kids watched on the bleachers.

This first fight took place between Alec, Kane, and another kid who has not met either of them before.

"Alright, get ready, set," the sergeant looked around to make sure everyone was ready, "Begin!" he barked, and the children charged at each other.

Alec had already won against most of the sparing fights he was put up against, so he thought he had this one in the bag. The boy named Kane was usually scared of other people and was very shy. During the first week he had been put in the very last of the losers' bracket when the tournament happened. But within the second week, thanks to the augmentation, he could at least defend himself. When he was in the thick of the fight, he fought like a monster. Slowly he started making his rank back up in the bracket, and got within the second tier where he had a plentiful amount of food, but against Alec or Lauren or Dante, with their teamwork, they were nearly unmatched.

Kane was determined to change that, and finally make his way to the first tier. He charged at Alec, at the same time as the other kid charged at Alec too. Alec figured that they both must have wanted him gone. Thrown off guard by the sudden change of pace, Alec prepared to defend himself against the attackers, but was tackled by Kane. Kane was now on top of Alec, punching him in the head, but Alec was guarding his head will with his arms, he waited for Kane to tire out a little before he threw him off of him.

A sharp pain crashed against Alec's ribs, and he let his guard down to grab his ribs. The other kid had come up to Alec and kicked him in the ribs with all his might.

The way the tournaments were won, was if the one kid rendered the other unable to effectively defend himself. This would then lead to the sergeant calling an out and taking the loser to the bleachers to clean up.

This was the position that Alec was put in. He had been effectively defending himself against Kane, but when the other kid kicked him in the ribs, and Alec went to grab his ribs in pain, Kane began to punch Alec in the face. In another few seconds of this, Alec would be called out. The situation was desperate and the match had only gone on for about 45 seconds.

Alec, with all his energy, punched Kane right in the nose, and sent Kane backward off of Alec, who got up and was now ready to defend himself. The other kid came at Alec and swung at Alec with his right hand. It all happened so fast it was like slow motion for Alec. He pushed the fist away with his left hand and punched the kid with his right. Then he recovered his left and punched the kid in the stomach with it. Then he side kicked the kid in the leg, he went to one knee to grab it in pain. Alec used this to his advantage and right hooked the kid in the jaw, knocking him to the floor. He didn't get up.

Kane who had recovered in a matter of seconds after the other kid went down, came at Alec and attempted to side kick him in the stomach. Alec grabbed ahold of the leg and twisted it so that Kane fell to the floor. Alec moved to the side of Kane and kicked him in the ribs. Kane was groping at his stomach in pain, when the sergeant called them both out. Alec, who had just now felt the fatigue of the fight, fell on all fours and panted heavily with the reassurance, that he was moving onto the next round.

"C'mon Alec, you call that a fight?!" barked the sergeant loudly. "You were on your back trying to defend those punches, but you didn't act fast enough! You could have knocked Kane off of you in a matter of seconds and stopped Chris from kicking you in the ribs!"

Alec wanted to protest, but he didn't look very convincing panting on the ground like a dog. Besides, at least he won, and he thought he handled the situation nicely despite getting knocked down.

Then the sergeant did something that surprised Alec: the sergeant leaned down to Alec and whispered "But even so, you still won, and that means you beat the Innies. Good job. Now get off your stomach and clean yourself up! That's an order!"

The sergeant complimented Alec. And here he thought that the sergeant was just a plain mean guy, but he actually complimented him. But there was another word that the sergeant used; Innies. Alec didn't entirely know what that meant. He had been told that they were being trained to fight enemies that were a threat to everything they knew and loved, but that was the first time the sergeant had mentioned insurrectionists before. Feeling good about himself, Alec got off the floor, and went to the bleachers.

III

Dante was next to fight his opponent. This time he was going against the kid with darker skin, Anthony. Anthony was a tough kid, even at the age of seven he could pack a punch into someone, and that someone wouldn't be getting up without a broken nose and a shattered pride. But Dante was a swift one; he could beat anyone, even Alec, who was almost as fast as him, in a running race. He also had to give himself credit too, because his punches weren't half bad either. The match began and both kids ran at each other.

Now, Anthony was smart, as well as strong. He wouldn't run headstrong into an opponent, even though he knew he could. Instead, he just hanged back and waited for the opponent to come at him. Dante ran at Anthony and swung at him with all his energy, but Anthony caught the punch and twisted Dante's arm behind his back and began to put him into submission. Dante tried to kick him from behind, but that wasn't doing much. In response to Dante's resistance, Anthony swiped Dante's leg, and he fell to the ground. Now he was being put into submission _and_ couldn't move.

Dante had a plan, but it was risky and it required an enormous amount of strength. Dante tried to stand up. He focused all his energy on just getting back on his feet, despite the opposing force. To everyone's surprise (and even his own) Dante stood up. Anthony had loosened his grip in amazement, and Dante escaped his grasp and ran.

Anthony chased after Dante, but I he just couldn't catch up to him. He was right on his tail, but still too far away. The chase continued like that for three minutes, and in that time, Dante came up with a plan. In a spilt second, while the chase was still going on, Dante turned around quickly and side kicked Anthony. The momentum from the running and then the sudden kick to Anthony's head, whiplashed his head and instantly knocked him out. The sergeant instantly called an out and ran towards the two kids. He kneeled down next to Anthony and put two fingers on his neck. Then he waved a medic over, who was standing near the edge of the arena. The doctor picked up the unconscious boy and carried him off. Everyone in the bleachers watched with intent, wondering if he was ok, and wondering if Dante would get in trouble. The sergeant looked at the kid, he wasn't sure if he was to be proud of him or disgusted with him. In the end, he decided to walk away, leaving Dante on the field, wondering what he did wrong.

IIIII

Dante walked up next to Alec and sat miserably beside him with his head in his head.

"Hey, you ok?" Alec asked his friend.

"I think so, but I don't know what happened."

"What do you mean, you won."

"Not that, I meant I don't know why I did something so brutal to him. It was like… I don't know… like an instinct."

"An instinct?"

"Yeah, like I was doing it without thinking. Has that ever happened to you?"

Alec though over it for a while, and now that he did, he noticed that his fighting skills hadn't been deliberate. When he was fighting, he felt more like he needed to survive.

"No, not really." Alec lied looking away.

IIIIII

Lauren was more of a martial artist. When the trainers taught the kids how to fights, they usually learned kickboxing, but not Lauren, she and two other kids were actually trained by a separate trainer who was a master of martial arts.

Lauren walked up to her opponent, Ayden, one of the others also taught by the martial artist. Ayden didn't talk much, he and his brother were twins, but no one knew his brother's name. When the kids first asked his name, he took the sergeant's combat knife and scratched in a giant D in the wall, then stuck the knife in the inside of it.

"Hi Ayden, you ready to see who is the better martial artist?" asked Lauren.

"I am," was Ayden's simple, emotionless reply, and the fight began.

They met each other on equal ground, got to their fighting stances, then proceeded to fight. Lauren threw a jab at Ayden who blocked it and countered with a jab back, which Lauren pushed to the side. Then she kicked at his stomach, but Ayden dodged that and side kicked Lauren in the ribs. It connected, and Lauren fell to the ground but almost immediately got back up and repeated the same sequence. Of course she would mix some things up a bit, like instead of kicking at Ayden, she might scissors kick at him, or maybe do a leg sweep. But no matter what she did to throw him off, he would always connect a hit to her, over and over. When Lauren scissors kicked at Ayden moved back a bit to avoid getting hit, but then charge at her and connect a punch to the stomach when she was recovering. She tried a leg sweep, and Ayden jumped over it and punched her in the jaw. It knocked her out almost instantly.

Alec, who had been watching with extreme seriousness, saw this, and something in him snapped. In a second he was on the field with one thing on his mind; Kill that guy. He ran towards Ayden, who got in a fighting stance to intercept the incoming attacker. When Alec got close, Ayden sent out a punch that was supposed to go to his head, but Alec only dodged it and sent a hook right to Ayden's nose.

Before Alec had the chance to do anything else, the sergeant was immediately holding Alec's hand behind his back, and pulling him over towards the exit.

"C'mon kid, you and I gotta talk." the sergeant growled in Alec's ear.

IIIIIII

The sergeant brought the struggling Alec into the lab area where mike was working, and sat him down on a seat.

"Mike, you need to check this kid out."

Alec could tell that he didn't mean that in a term of amazement.

"Sergeant, I am currently working on another augmentation, so please don't bother Me." said mike.

"This kid and another one like him critically injured two trainees on the training floor today. I need you to see what's wrong. "

"Oh…" said Mike and sat down at a chair across from Alec.

"Now tell me exactly what happened."

"One of the trainees was losing to another and he jumps out on the field like a Camacazi mad man and incapacitates the trainee."

"He was hurting Lauren, I had to stop him." objected Alec.

"It's called a fight kid, she was losing, and you should have left it at that."

"He was doing more damage to her that what should have been necessary. I had to do something."

"Both of you stop your bickering." ordered Mike.

Mike carefully examined the kid that had been placed before him. He didn't see any signs of mental insanity, and he didn't seem like a kid who would beat up and innocent kid.

"Alec, I thing I have something very special planned out for you." said mike.


End file.
